Deep Breaths
by Jade Remi Nichols
Summary: The Northern Water Tribe finds an infant wrapped in a Fire Nation Blanket-- and though she's allowed to stay and be raised she doesn't fit in! Ahh!


Alright, this story doesn't really have a lot of the characters from the show in it yet, but they will be, trust me! This girl has an interesting past and future, so look out for her future adventures! I am definitely going to have her cross paths with most of the characters, including Iroh and Zuko! Yay! Like in my other Avatar fanfics, I think she's gonna work in the tea shop in Ba Sing Se with them. Wow, what a frickin' coincidence!

Please, pllleassse read and review. I know its short... but there'll be more! 3

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"Deep breaths, Kashna," her instructor tells her, frowning at her in her horse stance until he hears and sees her taking those deep breaths. Even though he is a waterbending instructor, he is trying to teach the lone and young firebender in the Northern Tribe to control her ability. He sees as something they could harness for an advantage; she sees it as a curse, and nothing more.

While Pakku teaches only men waterbending, he has bent his rules for Kashna, but for her alone. She started her training with him when she was just six, and just discovered to be a firebender, and now, almost eight years later, she has some decent control over the fire. It was especially hard for her as she had the unwillingness to accept that she wasn't a part of her beloved tribe at all.

Her adopted father had found her in one of the Tribe's few patrols along the ice. She was wrapped in a thin red blanket, left for dead, only hours old. The man took pity on the girl, and took her back onto the ship with him, keeping her warm next to his body and under his furs until they could return to the village. The other soldiers that had accompanied him disliked his behaviour, but could not object to it. Even they could not leave such a helpless child to die, even if she was born from the fire nation.

Kano had taken the baby home first, and retrieved his wife, who was unable to bear any children, and together they took her to the chief. His voice had been stern, his eyebrows in a V on his forehead, and his word an absolute 'no.' But his son disagreed with his father, saying that if it had been an earth nation child, would he be so unwilling then? Grudgingly agreeing with his son, he allows the couple to keep the child, as long as they kept her in line.

Six years passed without an incident. The Chief went to the spirits, and his son took over, and soon he and his wife had a girl of their own. Even Kashna watched on like her adopted parents as the princess's life was in danger. Never allowed to see the princess, though, made Kashna feel disconnected from Yue, until that one day.

She had been just sitting, making piles in the snow after her lessons, when suddenly a boy stepped through her small snow fort, knocking it over and destroying it. This boy had done things like this before, and she was about tired of it. She had stood up, heat blazing from her hands as she reached to touch him, to pull him back around to face her.

She burned him unintentionally, but burn him she did, and her parents were forced to take her before the chief once more. She pleaded with him, small as she was, saying that she didn't mean to. She remembered the look on the young's chief face even years later: that of disgust. "A firebender, an enemy among us!" He had said loudly, his voice booming with anger.

"No, not an enemy!" She said quickly. "I will always be loyal to this, the Water Tribe. I might be able to bend fire, but that does not change who I love." She looks up at him, but he does not make the decision then. He conferred, spoke with Pakku, the elders, the people in general. She had it in her favor that she did not make much trouble as a child, that she did her work in her lessons, that she always tried to be the kindest to everyone. Two weeks later she was called before him again, and he agrees that she would be able to stay, but had to take lessons from Pakku and try to control her bending.

And eight years later, just past her fourteenth birthday, she was going to leave to try and find a master. A real master for her, a firebending master. Someone who could teach her, could show her the techniques instead of trying to adapt the waterbending moves to her. She had come to grips by now; she knows the story of how her adopted father had saved her, the stress they went through in their every day live because of her—and she is eternally grateful. But now its her turn to take her own path. She needs to find her biological parents, she needs to control her bending, she needs to join the rebels. She knows her path; she needs to join the resistance, after her training of course. Without training she could easily harm more of her own than fire nation.

Despite her hardships, she now has a few friends, all waterbenders, learning from Pakku as well. All males, of course, though she did have a few girl friends, learning healing. It really couldn't be avoided, considering she is a firebender, and she was bound to get burned at least once.

"Hey, Kashna," Okkam says, cornering her after their training. "Do you have to go home right away?" When she shakes her head, he grins his toothy smile. "Good. You're leaving tomorrow, right?" He starts walking his burly figure along a path leading to an icy bridge, and she follows, falling into step beside him.

"That's right," she says, stopping at the peak of the bridge and peering over the side and down into the water below her. "I'll miss it here." He steps up beside her, looking down into the water as well. He swirls water around a fish, bringing it up into a bubble of water. It looks angrily at him, and Kashna laughs before he lets it drop again. "I will miss the waterbenders, my friends, and you of course."

"I know," he says simply, swirling a stream of water up into the air in front of them now. "I'll miss you too. We all will. But we know you will stay true to us, will come back to us having made a change in the world." She just nods in agreement, and he sighs, brushing a strand of black hair out of his eyes. It fell to just past his ears. "Well, in any case, I made something for you," he says, pulling something out of the pocket in his furs. He takes her hand in his, dropping something cold in it and then closing her hand over it. "So you don't forget."

She takes her hand close to her and opens it. Inside is a bracelet made of bone beads, with a tooth as an ornament, sharp and jagged. She grins and then embraces him in a hug, glad such things are possible now. He hugs her back for a minute, and then they part, and she puts the bracelet on, admiring it fondly. "Thank you," she says, smiling at him.

"I just wish I could come with you," he says, eyebrows furrowing. "But I have to complete my training a bit more." He is just a year older than herself, and she nods in comprehension.

"I understand. I'll come back in a few years, and perhaps you can leave with me once more."

"Years…" he says, sighing.

"Well, yeah. I can't hope to master firebending in less than that, and you couldn't master water in less than that time either."

"I know," he says again, sighing like before.

"Okkam," she says softly, shifting her feet uneasily. "Don't bother waiting, alright? I'll change, you'll change, and there's really no help for it." Her cheeks are full of flush when she looks back up at him.

"We will always be friends, and that won't change. Whatever happens, will." He hesitates then kisses her cheek softly. She steps back quickly as she feels her breath getting out of control, looking back over the wall of the bridge, being careful not to touch the ice. Her hands are hot, but she closes her eyes for a second and quickly cools them.

"That, at least, will be easy to solve once I find a master," she comments lightly with a small laugh. He chooses not to return it, instead leaning on the bridge side again, looking over it moodily.

"Life will be a whole lot duller without you here."

She leaves the next morning on one of the ships that the Tribe use for patrols. They are going to drop her off on the closest point of the Earth Nation mainland, a good few days by sea. She finds herself useful in the kitchens, helping the cook keep the correct temperature in his ovens and quickly boiling him some water. He deftly wishes that all firebenders were so useful.

They leave her on the tip of the Earth Kindom. They tell her that to the southeast is Ba Sing Se, and to the southwest is the fire nation. She waves and gives a heavy goodbye to them all, hoisting her pack further on her back as they sail back the way they had come. She carries a small sleeping roll along with a bag full of cooking and fishing and hunting gear, and a few personal items. She has a water tribe waterskin over her shoulder, and is quickly removing her furs as she starts to sweat from the heat. Her furs tightly rolled and sealed in its skin-container, thus making it compact to carry, she puts the pack back on, and takes the small path she comes across due east. She is in hilly terrain, and soon her legs are tired. She still goes on, only stopping for answering nature's calls, meals, and for sleeping at night.

She grows bored after the third day of such walking, and is glad when she reaches a small village. She is greeted friendly enough, and enjoys a home-cooked meal for a change in the tiny inn, sleeping on a bed and resting her weary feet for an entire day. The morning after her arrival she goes to the market, looking for lighter clothing to buy, knowing that the weather was only going to get warmer the further she went. She finds a stand for clothes, tapping her nose as she looks the wares over.

"What are you looking for, missy?" The seamstress asks her, and Kashna looks up, startled.

"More practical clothing," she answers simply, looking over a light green skirt. The seamstress just grins and pulls her inside her little shop, standing her on a stool and looking her proportions over. Nodding to herself, the older woman pulls a dark green skirt and a lighter top from the rack, putting a screen up so the girl can change. Blushing, Kashna pulls on the clothes, then watches herself in the reflection of the dark screen. The skirt reaches to just above her knees, pleated to allow her to run and such, much to the girl's surprise. How did the old woman know? The top was of a lighter green, one solid piece, short enough to leave just a few inches of her navel uncovered. She twirls around in delight, and the old woman comes back into sight, pulling her arm so she stills.

"There now," the woman says with a toothy smile. "All you need is some shoes. Anything else you'll be needing?" When Kashna shakes her head, the seamstress brings her a pair of leather boots, and she slips them on her feet, noting the comfort. "You can leave your furs and such here, if you like," she continues.

"Are you sure?" Kashna wonders, unsure, her eyebrows furrowed. "I don't know when I will be able to return."

"You will return to the Tribe within the next few years, yes?" Kashna nods. "I will still have them for you then. I will set them in my closet. Anything to lighten your pack." Kashna grins and thanks her kindly, then hands her a few coins, paying for her things. She then retrieves the fur-skin bag from her pack, handing it over with care.

"It means much to me, but you are right. Without these things, my load will be much lighter."


End file.
